Right from the start of the show, visible through her perspiration-soaked hair extensions, the look on Spears’ face was scared and confused. She struggled to lip sync smoothly with the playback, frequently turned her muscular back to viewers, and appeared to be in distress, giving downward sideways glances and small, nervous smiles here and there. The result was an empty, mechanical performance that left viewers cold.

Spears, like so many middle-age starlets still trying to play the teeny-bopper, has become more of a spectacle than a force in her own right.

If she can’t win applause even in a country desperate for Western performers, perhaps it’s time to call it quits.